weaken, on the one hand, our tendency to idolise the creature, and to
strengthen, on the other, our faith in God, who abideth for ever, and
thus to unite us to one another, both now and in the end, more truly
than we ourselves as yet understand. But, nevertheless, the joy from
Christian intercourse experienced here is among the most precious
gifts of God, and its value is enhanced by the prophecy which it
contains of the glorious future. Union is the gospel watchword; it
is the grand result of redemption; for holy union is holy love, the
drawing of heart to heart, because all are drawn by one Spirit,
through one Saviour, to one God, a union which is to be perfectly
realised in our future social state, when we shall be fellow-citizens
with the saints in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Now, consider what ample resources heaven affords for the cultivation
of the social affections among those of the highest intellect, taste,
and moral worth in God's universe, "But ye are come unto Mount Sion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of
the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the
mediator of the new covenant." Here we have summed up the society in
our future home.

We shall there enjoy the society of the _angels_. We know about those
holy beings, but we do not know themselves as yet. But how often does
it happen to us in regard to our earthly friends, that those who are
unknown to us in our early years even by name, become in our latter
years indissolubly bound up with our history and our joy? And thus the
angels, whom on earth we have never seen, will, nevertheless, when the
manhood of our being is reached, become our intimate friends and dear